23rd January 2015 - Issue 10

Head’s Introduction

The first snow of the year at Roedean was quite beautiful with the fields blanketed in a veneer of snow. It was doubly exciting to watch some girls experience snow for the very first time. It reminds us to keep alive that sense of wonder that habit often reduces. However, in purely pragmatic terms, we were relieved that the snow quickly melted and the roads remained open so that school could continue as normal.

It was wonderful to hear about the girls’ success in the Top of the Bench Chemistry competition. They did very well to achieve the best scores against very strong competition, and it was great to see their sense of pride and to celebrate their success in Assembly. You can read more about the success and scientific achievements of other girls in this review.

We held our second Parents’ Forum meeting this week and discussed many aspects of the school. It was heartening to hear that our renewed catering offer is much appreciated across the school, that our new enrichment and sporting

initiatives are being enjoyed by many, and that the girls are enjoying working with their new teachers. Of course, we also heard about things that we can improve upon, and we are working on ways to ensure the highest quality provision across all areas of the school. Thank you for all your contributions and suggestions; Miss Semple will be writing to parents next week with a summary of the key points of the meeting.

Parents have received further information about the uniform consultation with an indication of our preferred options. The time for input and comment is drawing to a close, so if you have any last-minute thoughts, please do let us know.

The trial examination period for the top three years of the school is coming to an end. Girls in U5 and 6.2 will soon have clear indications of what they did well, as well as where they need to focus their energies for the remainder of the year. Finally, I would like to wish the girls in 6.1 the best of luck this week for their remaining examinations.

New boarding staff – introductionsA school like Roedean would find it exceptionally difficult to function smoothly without the hard work of the boarding house staff. They are often the first port of call for many parents when it comes to the day-to-day logistics of the boarding element of school life. This term, we have welcomed two new colleagues to this important team, and we wish them very well at Roedean.

Doug Read was brought up in Edinburgh and went to Fettes College. He studied Drama at the University of Sussex, and has spent the last two years working as a professional photographer. His passions are musical theatre, and cinema; in fact, he can be seen on the “big screen” as an extra in the 2014 Hollywood blockbuster version of Macbeth with Michael Fassbender in the title role – fame and glory!

Jacqui Mepsted grew up in Brighton, read English in London, and qualified as a teacher at Brighton University. She has taught in a number of state schools in Sussex for over twenty years. She has a rather heroic connection with history: her great, great, great, great-grandfather was the Bugle Boy in the Light Brigade during the Crimean War of the 1850s, and was one of the few survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade, etched in our cultural heritage by Tennyson’s poem of 1854.

As the result of a throw-away remark, Dr Barrand found himself taking a small group of students to an orphanage in Romania in 2002. It was said during a rehearsal of his Barber’s Shop Quartet; six months later, after lots of fund-raising and soul-searching, they were in Lugoj, singing, playing football, and sleeping on the floor of a classroom. Romanian orphanages are old news now, but they still need our support. Since 2002, Dr Barrand has given regular informal concerts, and raised over £7000 to support the orphanage. If you would like to hear the Roedean incarnation of a Barber’s Shop Quartet, or to sing along maybe with Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge over

troubled Water” or John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet-plane”, please come. The concert on February 5th is open to all parents, staff, and Sixth Form girls - please contact hde@roedean.co.uk

7:00pm – Thursday 5th February – Old RefYou are cordially invited to an Informal Concert with Cheese and Wine

given by Ross Barrandfor the Lugoj Orphanage in north-western Romania

accompanied by Alison Whitestone and Glenn Hawkesalong with The Roedean Barber’s Shop Quartet

Tickets are free – all donations will go to the orphanage

Contact: Helen Denman on hde@roedean.co.uk for a place

JJ A WINTER WONDERLAND AT ROEDEAN

It only lasted a day, but the snow this week gave the school a magical feel!

Bonkers at the British MuseumThe mark of the enduring power of the Elgin Marbles to enthral is shown by a small vignette of the Parthenon frieze which acted as inspiration for Byron’s ‘Ode to a Grecian Urn’ (1819). Written shortly after the arrival of the marbles in Britain in 1816, it is clear that, even from their early days in the museum, the marbles have played an important role in our artistic heritage. The current loan to the St Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum of the pediment fi gure of the river god, Ilissos, demonstrates their enduring appeal and importance to Western Art.

It is quite contentious that the Elgin Marbles are in Britain in the fi rst place, so on 16th January, classicists from Sixth Form, U5, and L5 went up to the British Museum in London to have a look and see what all the fuss is about. “We weren’t disappointed – although we have studied Greek Art and seen many pictures, nothing prepared us for the huge scale, the fi neness of the detail, and the beauty of the Parthenon frieze”. This is a perfect illustration that books can teach us many things, but actually contemplating the original is an entirely new and very moving experience.

Whilst the Sixth Form was exploring the Parthenon galleries, the GCSE cohort was working hard to fi nd evidence of how the Romans lived. The galleries were full of treasures, including some jewels which we had seen in our textbook, the Cambridge Latin Course, such as the Portland Vase. Our favourite artefacts were a huge oil lamp in the shape of a ship, the curse tablets, an invitation to a birthday party from Hadrian’s Wall, and an ornate Roman tap!

In the afternoon, we visited the Egyptian mummy exhibition. This was absolutely fascinating, and some of the highlights were a three thousand year old pitta bread with a person’s handprint in it, a huge curly wig made of human hair, and looking at the face of a young girl who had died so many millennia ago. If you haven’t seen the exhibitions at the British Museum, you really ought to go!

“I can’t wait to see my mug after it has been fi red!”

Twenty-two students and staff had a great afternoon last weekend at the Pottery Painting Café in Brighton. The girls set about choosing from a range of mugs and, having listened keenly to how to plan their designs and colours, they were off ! “Our designs were all so diff erent and colourful! It was perfect!” We had a busy and productive afternoon, and the girls had a great time: “It was great to get out of school and take part in something diff erent!”

“I can’t wait to see my mug after it has been fi red!”“I can’t wait to see my mug after it has been fi red!”

GB selection for AmberAs was reported in Issue 9 of the Head’s Review, Amber Pennington (U4) had been invited to trial for the Great Britain Water Polo squad in Cardiff last weekend. We are delighted that she has just received confi rmation that her trial was successful – this means that she has made it into the Great Britain Water Polo squad. This is an impressive achievement, and we can only imagine how much hard work has to go on behind the scenes to reach such a level – congratulations, Amber!

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My pear hit the perfect balance betw� n crunchy and j� cy

L5 Chemistry ChallengeFresh on the heels of the fantastic victory last week of more senior Roedean Chemists, our girls scored 88% in the fi rst round of the Royal Society of Chemistry Year 10 Chemistry Challenge. July Liang, Alya Mohamed Fauzi, Victoria Nathan-Maister and Loretta Sargeant worked excellently together as a team, in order to solve a variety of chemical problems. As a result of their success, they have now been invited to travel to the University of Kingston (Surrey that is, not Jamaica) on 13th May to compete against other top performing schools in a test of both their theoretical and practical skills. No doubt they will be practising whenever they can, in order to emulate the “Top of the Bench” victory last week.

Catering update!According to the saying, an army marches on its stomach, and the same can be said about Roedean girls. We are very keen to make sure that the quality and variety of food on off er at school is as good as it can be, so the catering department regularly introduces and trials new dishes: here are a few of the responses to the question, “What have you enjoyed most about the food this week?”:

The fusion bar

Tofu

The houmous pots are great!

The sw� t po� � wedges and the

salad bar

Olive bread and calamari

The � r� ty of f� d from di� erent places

Olive bread and

The f� d is al� ys nice and hot

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Girls’ Tag Rugby

The boys and girls were really excited when we arrived, and they couldn’t wait to get onto the field and stuck into the Tag Rugby. Five girls from L5, Georgie Tomlinson, Ohi Imevbore, Matilda Squires, Maya O’Neill, and Lauren McNeillis went to St Mark’s Primary School, not far from us, to help out and coach Tag Rugby to a class of twenty-nine Year 3 students. Georgie and Ohi worked with a small group, coaching passing backwards and picking the ball up off of the floor. They loved it, and there was a great timed competition to see how many passes they could make in thirty seconds. Maya and Lauren worked with another small group, perfecting the touch down in relay races, and there was intense competition from this group, especially when it was split into boys against girls! Matilda worked on her own with a group, coaching passing whilst moving – they couldn’t wait to get into pairs and run in relays passing the ball. The Roedean students showed great technical knowledge when coaching, and the Year 3 teacher, Mr Dean, was incredibly impressed with their professionalism: “A big thank you to you and the girls for coming in on Friday - it was great! The kids absolutely loved it and kept asking me if you’d be coming in again. A big success!”.

Netball’s BMW LeagueRoedean’s 1st Netball team got off to a fantastic start against Brighton7 in the BMW League on Tuesday. Phoebe Connolly and Reihaanah Mamdouh capitalised on any turnovers made, leaving Roedean in the lead at quarter time with a score of 13-4. Safe, reliable play by centre-court players Ivy Robin, Marisa Abela and Luchia Leigh, ensured accurate passes were made down the court into the shooters, who remained on form throughout the match. Defenders, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, Amelia Balthazor and Gabby Riley, controlled their third from start to finish, resulting in Brighton7 scoring half the goals Roedean did – we won 36-18, an impressive victory. This is yet another win for Roedean’s 1st Netball Team, who will now have a week off matches, ready for the Benenden FastNet Tournament on 31st January.

1st Versatility Tournament

On Saturday 17th January, Roedean’s 1st Netball team competed in the U18 Kent College Versatility Tournament, where they placed 3rd overall. The matches were short 8-minute games one-way, and the rules of a versatility tournament require players to change positions each match, meaning centre court players end up shooting, and attacking players end up in defence! Roedean proved to be very versatile, which was key to our success: centre court players Ivy Robin and Marisa Abela were particularly effective when shooting.

The team dominated in their first two matches, winning 5-0 against Kent College and 8-3 against Cranbrook. Unfortunately, the next two matches proved the most difficult, with majority of players in positions outside their comfort zone, and Roedean lost to Walthamshow Hall 2-5, and 2-8 to Duke of York, who were the overall winners. This unusual tournament was enjoyed by all, and our Captain, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, was voted Player of the Tournament for the second year running, which is a great achievement and is evidence of how valuable she is and her versatility!

U13 netball tournament

Last Saturday, a netball team comprising U12 and U13 Roedean players competed at the Windlesham House tournament. There were ten schools from all over the region competing, and we found ourselves in a tough pool. The girls from the two age-groups gelled well together and played very well, and, most importantly, the younger girls will have gained valuable experience for the future. Although Roedean did not make it through to the semi-finals, the girls deserve to be very proud of their overall performance. Pippa Wilmott played very well, making superb interceptions in the defensive D, and she was voted overall player of the tournament – well done to all.

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We welcome contributions from all parts of the Roedean community. If you have something you would like featured in the Headmaster’s Newsletter, please email: news@roedean.co.uk